Development of inspection technology for pipes in high background radiation environments (Contract research); FY2023 Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project

Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science; University of Fukui*

JAEA-Review 2025-036, 88 Pages, 2025/11

JAEA-Review-2025-036.pdf:6.36MB

The Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS), Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), had been conducting the Nuclear Energy Science & Technology and Human Resource Development Project (hereafter referred to "the Project") in FY2023. The Project aims to contribute to solving problems in the nuclear energy field represented by the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO). For this purpose, intelligence was collected from all over the world, and basic research and human resource development were promoted by closely integrating/collaborating knowledge and experiences in various fields beyond the barrier of conventional organizations and research fields. The sponsor of the Project was moved from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to JAEA since the newly adopted proposals in FY2018. On this occasion, JAEA constructed a new research system where JAEA-academia collaboration is reinforced and medium-to-long term research/development and human resource development contributing to the decommissioning are stably and consecutively implemented. Among the adopted proposals in FY2023, this report summarizes the research results of the "Development of inspection technology for pipes in high background radiation environments" conducted in FY2023. The following two studies are being conducted with the aim of comprehensively developing technologies to address the three needs indicated in the hearing with TEPCO regarding observation of the inside of piping: (1) Hydrogen content, (2) Presence of precipitates, (3) Presence or absence of / radiation emitting nuclides. First, by downsizing existing nondestructive inspection equipment and developing a dedicated radiation detector capable of nondestructively imaging the inside of piping, we aim to obtain information on the inside of piping by nondestructive inspection using lasers, etc., and to clarify the presence or absence of -nuclides in piping and the internal conditions of piping, etc. In addition, we will develop equipment to visualize -nuclides and discriminate -nuclides in high dose rate environments, as well as technology to investigate the contents of the piping. Deployment of the developed technology is expected to be put into practical use by TEPCO and private companies.

Investigation on soundness of JMTR Facility piping by ultrasonic thickness measurement

Omori, Takazumi; Otsuka, Kaoru; Endo, Yasuichi; Takeuchi, Tomoaki; Ide, Hiroshi

JAEA-Review 2021-015, 57 Pages, 2021/11

JAEA-Review-2021-015.pdf:6.3MB

The JMTR reactor facility was selected as a decommissioning one in the Medium/Long-Term Management Plan of JAEA Facilities formulated on April 1, 2017. Therefore, the decommissioning plan was submitted to Nuclear Regulation Authority on September 18, 2019, and the approval was obtained on March 17, 2021 after two amendments. Currently, preparations for decommissioning are underway. The JMTR reactor facility has been aged for more than 50 years since the first criticality in March 1968. However, some of the water piping systems has not been updated since its construction, and there is a possibility of pipe wall thinning due to corrosion, etc. Therefore, the integrity of the water piping was investigated for the facilities that circulate cooling water and pump radioactive liquid waste. In this investigation, the main circulation system of the reactor primary cooling system, the pool canal circulation system, the CF pool circulation system, the drainage system of the liquid waste disposal system, and the hydraulic rabbit irradiation system of the main experimental facility were measured for the pipe wall thickness using the Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement (UTM) method. These values satisfied the technical standards for research and test reactor facilities. No loss of integrity is expected to occur during the upcoming decommissioning period. In the future, we will periodically confirm that there is no wall thinning in the piping of the cooling water circulation and the water transmission system during the decommissioning period by using this result as basic data.

Failure behavior analyses of piping system under dynamic seismic loading

Udagawa, Makoto; Li, Y.; Nishida, Akemi; Nakamura, Izumi*

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 167, p.2 - 10, 2018/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2018.10.002

It is important to assure the structural Integrity of piping systems under severe earthquakes because those systems comprise the pressure boundary for coolant with high pressure and temperature. In this study, we examine the seismic safety capacity of piping systems under severe dynamic seismic loading using a series of dynamic-elastic-plastic analyses focusing on dynamic excitation experiments of 3D piping systems which was tested by NIED. Analytical results were consistent with experimental data in terms of natural frequency, natural vibration mode, response accelerations, elbow opening-closing displacements, strain histories, failure position, and low-cycle fatigue failure lives. Based on these results, we concluded that the analytical model used in the study can be applied to failure behavior evaluation for piping systems under severe dynamic seismic loading.

Cost performance design for high temperature helium heat transport piping of GTHTR300C and HTTR-GT/H plants

Nomoto, Yasunobu; Horii, Shoichi; Sumita, Junya; Sato, Hiroyuki; Yan, X.

Proceedings of 2017 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2017) (CD-ROM), 9 Pages, 2017/04

This paper presents the cost performance design of heat transport piping systems for GTHTR300C plant and HTTR-GT/H plant. Two types of pipe structure are designed and compared in terms of cost performance. Relative to the coaxial double-pipe structure, the insulated single pipe structure is found to have the advantage in overall cost performance considering both the material quantity and the heat loss because it reduces the quantity of steel used for construction. Furthermore it is possible to reduce the heat loss and temperature reduction of hot helium gas by the attachment of the external insulation. The pressure tube made of type-316 stainless steel with high-temperature strength is possible to achieve the same temperature reduction by smaller diameter than that made of 2 1/4Cr-1Mo steel. It contributes to the reduction of the quantity of steel. Specifications of heat transport piping systems for both plants are determined according to these study results.

The Effect of profile of inlet velocity on the pressure fluctuation on the inside wall of short-elbow

Ono, Ayako; Tanaka, Masaaki; Kobayashi, Jun; Kamide, Hideki

Proceedings of 9th Korea-Japan Symposium on Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Safety (NTHAS-9) (CD-ROM), 7 Pages, 2014/11

Development of measuring device for inner surfaces of embedded piping (Contract research)

Ito, Hirokuni*; Hatakeyama, Mutsuo*; Tachibana, Mitsuo; Yanagihara, Satoshi

JAERI-Tech 2003-012, 34 Pages, 2003/03

JAERI-Tech-2003-012.pdf:2.87MB

The MISE was developed to evaluate low-level radiological contaminations of inner surfaces of piping. The MISE consists of a cylindrically-formed double layered type detector and a piping crawling robot, which were designed and manufactured separately. In measurements of the contaminations, an outer cylindrical detector close to the surface of piping measures -rays and -rays and an inner cylindrical detector set after a shielding plate for shield of -rays measures -rays. The -ray counting rates are derived by subtracting -ray counts measured by the inner detector from - and -ray counts measured by the outer detector. The robot transports the double layered type detector with observing inner surfaces of piping. The detection limit for the contamination of Co was found to be about 0.17Bq/cm with measurement time of 30 seconds. It is expected that 0.2Bq/cm corresponding to clearance level of Co (0.4Bq/g) can be evaluated with measurement time of 2 seconds, which is equal to measurement speed of 54m/h.

Revaporization of CsI aerosol in a horizontal straight pipe in a severe accident condition

Shibazaki, Hiroaki*; Maruyama, Yu; Kudo, Tamotsu; Hashimoto, Kazuichiro*; Maeda, Akio*; Harada, Yuhei*; Hidaka, Akihide; Sugimoto, Jun

Nuclear Technology, 134(1), p.62 - 70, 2001/04

https://doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3186

no abstracts in English

Vapor condensation and thermophoretic aerosol deposition of cesium iodide in horizontal thermal gradient pipes

Maruyama, Yu; Shibazaki, Hiroaki*; Igarashi, Minoru*; Maeda, Akio; Harada, Yuhei; Hidaka, Akihide; Sugimoto, Jun; Hashimoto, Kazuichiro*; Nakamura, Naohiko*

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 36(5), p.433 - 442, 1999/05

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnst.36.433

no abstracts in English

Three-dimensional thermo-fluiddynamic analysis of gas flow in straight piping with WINDFLOW code

Maruyama, Yu; Igarashi, Minoru*; Nakamura, Naohiko; Hidaka, Akihide; Hashimoto, Kazuichiro; Sugimoto, Jun; Nakajima, Kengo*

Proc. of ASMEJSME 4th Int. Conf. on Nuclear Engineering 1996 (ICONE-4), 1(PART B), p.997 - 1008, 1996/00

no abstracts in English

Experimental and analytical study on the behavior of cesium iodide aerosol/vapor deposition onto inner surface of pipe wall under severe accident conditions

Hidaka, Akihide; Igarashi, Minoru*; Hashimoto, Kazuichiro; ; ; Sugimoto, Jun

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 32(10), p.1047 - 1053, 1995/10

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnst.32.1047

no abstracts in English